Virtual collaboration software tools have become widely used and are often considered critical ‘must have’ capabilities. Virtual collaboration and conferencing tools enable users to present and share slides, application programs, files, desktop displays, and other information to a group of people in real-time using a web browser or networked application. While virtual collaboration tools allow users in many different locations to schedule and attend meetings quickly and easily, it is necessary to balance competing demands between security and convenience, or ease of use. Often, the first ten or more minutes of meeting time may be lost while participants connect to the correct virtual room or event. Adding new participants once the meeting is underway is typically time-consuming and difficult. Attending scheduled virtual events easily when scattered over weeks and months can also be problematic.
Most virtual meeting applications use an event key that is generally composed of a sequence of letters and/or numbers. Each event key is unique and grants access to a specific virtual room or event. To attend a meeting or event, a participant typically opens a web browser, navigates to a web site, and provides a login name and the event key; or invokes a Universal Resource Locator (URL) that embeds all the information required to transport the user to the virtual event. Some applications use Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to allow participants to connect to each others' workstations. Other virtual meeting application programs allow an access control list (ACL) to be generated. Once created, an ACL can be referenced to determine whether particular users are allowed access to an event.
Each of the above applications has limitations and deficiencies. When using a ‘key’, the key must be generated and communicated to all participants. Typically the key is generated randomly and is purposely made difficult to memorize for security reasons. As a result, the key is difficult to communicate verbally. The use of IP addresses requires that the participant discover the IP address of their workstation, which can be a cumbersome process. This is because Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) has become widely used to automatically assign IP addresses, in which case, fixed IP addresses are no longer available. Each new session requires the user to determine the IP address assigned to a particular workstation for the session. Some applications provide a directory service that equates IP addresses to user names, but the directory service can be slow and cumbersome to use. ACLs can be inconvenient due to the need to create and maintain a current participant list as well as to authenticate the participants.